PBX Preference ?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. Mitel is the second largest provider of PBX's in the states and the largest over seas. That says something for them.

A. You need a background in data networking since voice and data are slowly merging. That is where my particular background is in. And after meetings with Mitel and Fujitisu, I realized that this can be a very lucrative area to get into. I currently have been doing some administration on a NEAX 2400. Easy things like moves, pickup groups, hunt groups, etc. So now we are selecting a new switch and I want to choose one that is reliable, flexible and also one that will further my career in telephony. I hope Mitel has all these characterics since I feel we will be moving forward with Mitel. A huge plus with them is the fact that we just installed a Centigram voicemail so we would like to get it simple, one vendor instead of two. Thanks for all the info and any other advise, comments or suggestion is appreciated. The F9600 is an extremely capable PBX. In fact its the closest thing to a Central Office in a box that I've ever installed. Its a very flexible and complete product. The primary drawbacks to this PBX center around issues of mfr support and pricing, IMHO. Fujitsu's biggest problems are of its own making: vendor attitude and poor pricing policies. They are not the most innovative vendor in software, their support of external CTI interfaces is overpriced and not very open. Their Nonetheless, the machine is world class, has a good track record and has shown steady improvement/development. This system will run forever, it is well built and quite stable. Programming is not intuitive and the manuals still leave a lot to be desired, but its not hard to work with once you learn it. But its a good switch. A very good switch. The Mitel is also quite decent. They've really tried to update the system in recent years, and the SX2000 has really been underappreciated (I think Mitel is the Rodney Dangerfield of PBX's...they can't get no respect) The system addresses a different size range than the F9600. Its also not quite as versatile. Its usually priced more agressively. And the additional features and packages are usually less expensive than the F9600. The Mitel is easier to configure and program. It'll also interface to more third party equipment than the F9600 will. (Mitel, more than any other PBX vendor than perhaps Comdial, is getting the message about open CTI interfaces being the future.) The hardware is not quite as reliable as the F9600, but its often easier and cheaper to maintain than the Fujitsu systems. And there are a lot more Mitel PBX's around, though they have made more different PBX models than Fujitsu has. Some of the Mitel small PBX's are very well respected and are classic products. (Who can really hate a Superset 4? In its day it was an amazingly good feature phone...) So the SX2000Lite is also very good. Its got some capabilities that still surpass other PBX's for distributed environments. I've installed both of the PBX's mentioned and like them both. If I had to choose between the two, it'd be decided by contractual issues with the vendor, such as upgrade and software update costs. (Both of these PBX mfr's want to eat Lucent's G3 lunch and these switches almost do it. And I'd pick either over Lucent just due to costs and attitude.) Now, to answer the question: which one is better to learn? The fact is: Lucent, Siemens/ROLM and Nortel are still the big three in PBX's. They have more medium to large installations in the US than any of the other vendors. If you are thinking of your skills on the open market, then you should consider this. Knowing one of these systems can get you a job almost anywhere. After the big three, the market is quite fragemented. In regions where a particular PBX vendor has established a strong presence, that's the system to know. There are place in the US where you can find a Mitel PBX in a great many mid sized businesses. And there are other areas where Mitel is just not seen in any quantity.

Ask Edwards a Finance Question

Other Questions:

Alternative to Bellsouth for business phone service?

Does anybody know if there is a company that provides local business phone service in Atlanta aside from Bellsouth? Did business phone service get deregulated and opened up to competition as well as residential?We use M-Power Communicat...

I moved offices yesterday. Along with the usual time wasting requirements of setting up, etc was the process of learning my new office phone number. My new phone number is also a prime number! Cool, innit?How many digits are phone numbers in ...

We're looking at the Panasonic TD-308 or TD-816 system, along with their phones and TVS-75 or TVS-100 voice mail systems. It looks like going with the entry systems, this would cost us at least $2500. Does the Panasonic system work well? ...

Does anyone know what the details are? I'm going to be in Halifax this Wednesday and will be checking out what's new at the Cantel store at Bayers Lake. The kids have the 2160 since they are going to school in Halifax. My wife and I each have...

Are you looking for information or answers about the 3Com NBX business telephone systems ?"We view Voice over IP to be one of the critical growth areas coming out of networking, as such, we're excited to see this technology being given special ...

Edwards Finance Menu

Ask a Question
About Us / Me
Contact Me
Privacy Policy

Sitemap

My Favorite Sites

PFBlog
Google Finance
Yahoo Finance
Motley Fool
Nveille's Financial Blog
AllFinanceMatters
Free Money Finance
2MillionBlog
The Terror Finance blog

Q&A Subjects